The personal musings, and other writings, of a Ross who has maintained the Clan's ecclesiastical link!
This is an unashamedly Christian ministry blog. Many of the posts are comments on current affairs, from a Biblical perspective, but I also include some straightforward Christian teaching; poems and songs that I have written; quotable quotes; and information on the persecuted church. Some of my posts stray into politics, and science!

Friday, 22 March 2013

Marriage Mistakes #3

The final point from Phil Moore. I trust that others found his article as helpful as I did.
"Mistake #3: Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage is a Religious Issue.
In the U.K., David Cameron and Nick Clegg have tried to frame the
issue of same-sex marriage as a battle between free-thinking reformers
and religious reactionaries.

They have shouted down opposition to their bill by promising that
churches and mosques will be protected from being forced to conduct
same-sex marriages on their premises, and the Church of England has been
flattered into playing along in exchange for a seat at the discussion
table. Even if we believe Cameron and Clegg (and let’s face it, it’s
hard to do so when Cameron has just warned the church on another issue
to “get with the programme” or face the consequences), it is missing the
point entirely. It isn’t just Christians, Jews and Muslims who want to have a say in
this issue. Marriages make families and families make society. How we
define marriage affects all of us. To deny this is ridiculous.

I received a letter from David Cameron a few weeks ago when I
corresponded with him about same-sex marriage. He told me that he thinks
marriage is so important that he wants to open it up to same-sex
couples as well, which is about as logical as me saying that I like
Italian food so much that I want to declare that every cuisine in the
world be Italian. It isn’t just an issue for religious people when our
governments start redefining marriage with political double-speak which wouldn’t be out of place in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Even in decadent Rome,
when Emperor Nero briefly legalized same-sex marriage, his pagan Roman
subjects opposed his law. The historian, Tacitus, complained that Nero
“went through a formal wedding ceremony with one of the perverts named
Pythagorus,” and implies that this added to the general public disgust
with Nero which eventually led to his forced suicide (Annals
15.37). If the most anti-Christian city in the world opposed gay
marriage (remember, these were the people who threw Christians to the
lions), then let’s not pretend that opposition to same-sex marriage is a
religious issue.

Besides, when Barack Obama refers six times
in his inauguration speech to God and four times to the Creator or to
Creation, it reminds us that religious people have always had an
important role in shaping public policy for good. Not least among them
were Abraham Lincoln (a devout Christian) and Martin Luther King Jr. (a
Christian pastor). Politicians can’t have it both ways: either they want
to associate themselves with God and with the great religious thinkers
of the past, or they should come clean and say that they don’t want to.

The reason Barack Obama referred so much to God and to the great
religious thinkers of the past is that every U.S. President knows he
needs to stand on the shoulders of the founding fathers — who were
religious thinkers — thus, to dismiss religious thinkers as nothing more
than a group of political lobbyists is an act of insanity. They are
those who have routinely submitted their own generation’s thinking to
the scrutiny of the wise men and women of old, and who have learned to
speak up for what they have learned.

The true political
lobbyists are the pro-gay activists who have filled the staff roles in
10 Downing Street and in the West Wing. It is this small, but powerful, clique that
has so influenced the politicians that they can’t see the three big
mistakes which they are making. Same-sex marriage isn’t a religious
issue any more than it is a civil rights issue. It is the coveted
ambition of a group of powerful lobbyists who want to stifle debate by
claiming the debate is already over.

We mustn’t let them succeed in rushing through this piece of hasty legislation."

2 comments:

It is true that many non-believers also know "instinctively" that same sex couples cannot be considered "married". The pro SSM lobby, including Government ministers, have done as much as possible to demonise those who oppose SSM. This has caused very considerable hurt and resentment that is already showing at the polling booths, and will continue to do so. The media, including the BBC and Channel 4 particularly, have shown unprecedented bias in their reporting of the issue.

David Cameron’s argument that marriage is too important to limit to heterosexuals only is facile and immature. It’s the kind of reasoning I’d expect from a teenage school debate, not from a political leader. Like so many of his ideas, which lead to nothing e.g. the “Big Society”, this one is equally vacuous in its conception.

As to those in the Church who are willing to compromise their beliefs in favour of popular social and political trends, they should no longer consider themselves believers. They have betrayed not just God, but the many true believers who hold to God’s teaching on marriage. Their condemnation is richly deserved.

My impression talking to various people who oppose SSM is that they do not hate people because of their sexuality, so they are not “homophobic”, but they deeply resent politicians fooling around with the definition of marriage. We all know there is a powerful gay lobby that has too much influence on our Government. Various “humanists” and “atheists” usually back them too. Why? Because this is more than about gay “rights”, this is also an attempt to stamp on religion, particularly Christian, and vilify Christians as bigots and “living in the past”. The hatred of these people is quite palpable sometimes. There is nothing new about this of course. This has happened many times throughout history. My belief is that God will not be mocked, and He will protect those who are faithful to Him, while their enemies will continue to stumble in the darkness.

Thank you for your comment, Nick. As you might have expected, I am in full agreement (although, as I trust previous published comments will show, I ma prepared to publish any comment that is not offensive!).

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